I think people are underestimating what a great race Smarty ran on Saturday. He has proven to be a special animal and it took a special set of circumstances in a one and one-half mile race to get him beat by one length. Birdstone had a terrible pattern but did have back class and some excuses. He jumped up big while having the race set up perfectly. I don't think you can fault Elliot, Servis, Bailey or Solis. Purge clearly did not want the lead. He was not going to let Smarty sit chilly on his flank and go by him when he wanted. At the same time you can't fault Bailey and Solis for trying to stay close with a horse who has this much natural speed and can also rate. It was a lose-lose situation for any horse who possesed some natural speed. Use it or be six lenghts behind on the far turn. Birdstone had no choice but to run the race he did. His lack of speed helped him in this instance but 99 out of 100 time Smarty would not have come back to him. No conspiracy, just the way things played out.